Hold On, Just A Little Bit Longer
by chalantness
Summary: Prompt #90: coping. SPOILERS for 1x19 "Misplaced":  Her stuff is still in boxes everywhere because she honestly couldn't find it in herself to unpack anything.


**Title: **_Hold On, Just A Little Bit Longer  
><em>**Rating:** K+  
><strong>Word Count:<strong> 1,400+  
><strong>Characters:<strong> Dick/Zatanna  
><strong>Summary:<strong> _(Spoilers for 1x19, "Misplaced")._ Her stuff is still in boxes everywhere because she honestly couldn't find it in herself to unpack anything.  
><strong>Prompt:<strong> #90: coping  
><strong>Other Inspirations: <strong>none

**Note: **It just _had_ to be done. I'm also working on a quick spitfire one, so hopefully that'll be up by tonight or tomorrow (:

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><p><strong>Hold On, Just A Little Bit Longer<strong>

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><p>When she wakes up, her heart drops in her chest for a second.<p>

She's two seconds from screaming out, but she stops herself when she realizes that this _is_ in fact her room, just not the one she's used to being in. Her stuff is still in boxes everywhere because she honestly couldn't find it in herself to unpack anything.

Groaning a little, she rolls onto her back. What time is it? Her clock isn't set up, and it's not like she has a window to indicate how bright the sun is outside, anymore. It's just completely dark, and honestly? She was afraid of the dark when she was little, so her dad put up dozens of glowing stars on the ceiling and told her it was better than a nightlight, and prettier to look at, too.

But _this_ ceiling is empty, and those same stars are peeled off and dumped into an envelope somewhere in one of these boxes.

Throwing her legs over the side, she stands up and stretches her arms over her head. A tear slips down her cheek, but she hardly thinks it was because she yawned.

It's cold when she gets outside.

Her dad hates the cold, and always blasts the heater in the morning. Sometimes it'll be so warm that she'll use less hot water in her shower, and her dad would laugh at her for pouring too much milk in her cereal even though she doesn't really like milk, just because she needs something cold to drink.

(She used to tell him that she didn't know how he paid for the heating every month since he keeps doing this. He never did get around to telling her.)

So she just wraps her arms around herself as she walks into the kitchen. It's empty, and the clock on the microwave tells her it's a little past noon. Part of her thinks that her dad would've never let her sleep in so late, but another part of her is kind of surprised that she had it in herself to sleep for that long, considering she didn't stay up last night.

She pours herself a glass of orange juice and toasts two frozen waffles, and sits on a barstool at the island as she eats them plain.

If it's past noon, the others are just training or running around getting other stuff done. For a second, she thinks maybe they're all at school, but if she remembers correctly it's supposed to be Sunday.

Then she thinks about _her_ school and wonders if Batman pulled her out yet. She's sure that if he did already, he'll ask her to give him the textbooks she has so he can return them, or maybe he'll just pay her book bill off for her. But there's an AP Calculus textbook in her room somewhere because she took it home to study for this quiz on Monday. At least she doesn't have to worry about failing.

Her dad would've grounded her if she failed that quiz like she thought she was going to.

(Though, that's not entirely true, because every time she doesn't get the grades she was hoping for, he takes her out to her favorite café and reassures her over dessert crepes that she's so much smarter than he was when he was her age and should be proud of it.)

"Did you want syrup with those waffles?"

She looks up, and Robin is walking towards her from the hallway, hands tucked into his jacket pockets.

She musters a small grin. "I didn't know where the syrup was," she admits. "At my house, it was in the cabinet above the oven."

Robin nods and opens the pantry beside the fridge, pulling out a bear-shaped bottle. "Miss M will _only_ buy the ones shaped like bears," he tells her, and she chuckles faintly. "Did you want me to…?" He uncaps the nozzle and waits for her to nod before drizzling syrup over her waffles. She bites her lower lip and feels like blushing, and he grins and squirts a little more on.

"Thanks, Robin," she says.

He shrugs and caps it again, setting it aside. "No prob. Did you get enough sleep?"

She laughs a bit louder this time. "I don't know _why_ I slept so long," she exhales, and he just shrugs again like he doesn't see anything wrong with that, which she finds a little odd. She expects him to be very punctual considering who his mentor is. "I think it was the bed."

"Was it too uncomfortable?" he asks worriedly. "I can tell Bats to get you a different one, if you need it."

She shakes her head. "It's not that it was uncomfortable. I think it's that it was _too_ comfortable." He raises his eyebrows a little. "My mattress was old and lumpy. I'd always have knots in my shoulder when I woke up because it was so uncomfortable. I can't tell you how many times I complained to my dad that I needed a new one."

His forehead puckers a little when his eyebrows come together in concern, and she cuts herself another piece of her waffle to give her something to do.

And she's not sure why she chooses now to become suddenly aware of the fact that she's in flannel shorts and two spaghetti-strapped tanks, but she remembers this and tries in vain to fight off the blood that rushes to her cheeks. Robin must just notice this now, too, or noticed her blushing and became aware of it, because he chuckles a bit nervously and looks away, his cheeks turning a faint pink.

"So, where's everyone else?" she asks after swallowing down a bite.

"Black Canary is training with Kaldur," he informs, "Miss M and Conner are unpacking boxes, and I think KF and Artemis went for a jog."

Zatanna throws an eyebrow up, sharing a smirk with Robin. "Did they, now? Huh. I'll have to talk to her later."

"My guess is that she'll come back mad because KF ran circles around her," Robin says, and Zatanna laughs louder than she expected to, gripping the counter to steady herself.

She looks at Robin, who looks amused for a second before he's looking at her in concern again, and she doesn't even realize that she's crying until a tear drips from her chin and onto her chest. She brings a hand to her face and wipes at her tears, a bit stunned herself, and Robin sets a hand on her shoulder.

She tries to steady her breathing, which is successful for the most part, but she still feels warm tears roll down her cheek and rubs them with the heel of her hand.

Robin squeezes her shoulder a little, and she swivels the barstool to face him, gripping the front of his hoodie. She pulls him forward a little, so that he's standing at her knees, and leans into him when he wraps his arms around her.

"You'll get through this, 'Tanna," he tells her.

She whimpers a little.

(She'd feel kind of pathetic, crying in front of him like this, if he wasn't rubbing her back and being all comforting.)

"We'll all be here for you. _I'll_ be here for you," he continues, pushing a hand through her hair and running his thumb over her dark locks. She's always liked it when her dad played with her hair, just because, and she wonders, in the back of her mind, if Robin knew this, or if it was just a coincidence.

After what feels like a few minutes, she pulls back a little and looks at him through glazed eyes.

Then they hear the distant sound of the transporter whirring, announcing two new arrivals, and listen to the sound of Artemis and Wally arguing.

"It's not my fault!" Wally is arguing. "God! You don't have to be such a grump!"

"Well, the next time you invite me to run with you, maybe you'll consider running at decent speed!" Artemis shouts back.

She and Robin laugh, and she slides out of her seat and sets her plate and fork in the sink, running the water over it. When she turns back around, Robin is smiling at her, the sounds of Wally and Artemis arguing fading as they're walking away. And when she asks in a very soft voice, "Can you help me unpack?" he slips his hand into hers and tells her that he'd love to.

"So, did you want to unpack everything and then set up," he asks, "or did you want to see what's in each box and set up was we go?"

She threads their fingers together.

"Actually, can you get some tape? I want to put stuff up on the ceiling first…"


End file.
